Guide for Youths and Leaders in Liberia – Part 4

For those of you that did read the part three of our series we are sorry that it had a little error on the title which read “But GUIDE FOR LEADERS AND YOUTHS IN LIBERIA”. The “But” shouldn’t have been a part of the title. For our today’s article we begin with part four (4) of the series below and I trust our youths and leaders in Liberia will begin to read these series as we go along; for these things are written because of you and above all they are written for us to become better leaders so that we make Liberia, our country a better place. Thanks for your understanding.

Norman Vincent Peal wrote: “No matter what mistakes you have made – no matter how you have messed things up you can still make a new beginning. The person who fully realizes this suffers less from the shock of pain and failure and sooner gets off to a new beginning”.

Friend yesterday is a powerful force; it is a very strong current that has a tendency to sweep its victim of their feet. Yesterday is a very crucial issue that has to be well handled else it will ruin today and mess up tomorrow. If yesterday was bad it will haunt and taunt you. A bad yesterday is all out to discourage you. It is determined to rob you of the courage needed to face today. Yesterday always wants to remind you “can things really be the same again”? Yesterday sings loud in our ears “once bitten twice shy”. A bad yesterday can be like a dark shadow that follows you wherever you go.

On the other hand if yesterday was good it will want you to live in it. A good yesterday will want you to delight in in the past and despise the present and invariably ignore the future. A good yesterday has the tendency to drag you into nostalgia. It wants you to be sentimentally attached to it at the expense of the future. It has a strong pull of wanting you to see things from the eye of the “good old days”. A good yesterday kills the desire for adventure. It frustrates the creativity to try new things and it stifles the imagination.

Yesterday can be dangerous whether it be good or bad so we must learn to put yesterday where it belongs. You must understand that and appreciate the fact that yesterday has gone. If yesterday was bad do not be scarred to own up, face it and move on. Find out why you had a bad yesterday – analyze what went wrong and make concrete plans not to repeat the mistakes of yesterday. If yesterday was good then celebrate but still move on – find out what made you succeed yesterday, but build on it and move on.

Yesterday is gone and gone forever as it demise gives you the opportunity of a brand new day. The death of yesterday affords you the privilege of opening a new chapter of your history. You have lost yesterday and all you have is today. Today too will soon end so maximize all the opportunities that come your way today. Today is the only guarantee that you have. Tomorrow is a privilege you might not be offered, so learn from the mistakes of yesterday and build on the successes you recorded. Yesterday is gone so wake up to a brand new day.

Les Brown puts it this way, “Understand that most of your limitations are self-imposed because of your history and that your field of vision is too often limited by your experience instead of being guided by your imagination.”

(Chealy Brown Dennis is a motivational speaker and offers training in leadership and organizational development; creative sales and marketing, strategic planning and team building. He also offers workbooks, on-location and train-the-trainer formats for leaders, managers, businesses and organizations. Email: dennisbc2011@yahoo.com or on phone at: 0886-264-611 or 0776-545-394)